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MOUNTULLA— Before West Rowan’s season opener Friday against Salisbury, Falcon senior Eric Weimer was seeing red.
The starting defensive back had to hear all through the preseason how West’s defense would dominate — through a big defensive line and fearless linebackers.
“We had something to prove, that we weren’t the weak link,” said Weimer of the secondary.
But when he hit the field, his eyes weren’t red anymore. They were pink.
“He had the worst case of pink eye I’d ever seen,” said coach Scott Young. “He was day to day and we weren’t sure he could play.”
Weimer played, all right. With eyes blurry and burning, he picked off two long, Hornet bombs to keep Salisbury at bay. His defensive mates added two more in a scarier-than-anticipated 7-6 victory.
Which means you can fear the West defensive line, you can fear the linebackers — but don’t forget Weimer and the secondary.
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While defending pass receivers, Weimer has always been forced to defend himself. At 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, he isn’t an imposing figure when coaches are studying film.
“And that’s probably the reason he gets those interceptions,” reasons Young. “Other coaches look at him and say, ‘We ought to be able to throw over there.’”
No one loves that type of thinking more than West defensive back coach Tim Dixon. He discovered Weimer’s ability in the secondary by sheer chance.
Weimer, who moved here from Syracuse, N.Y., as a freshman, was a wide receiver, barely noticeable among the more-publicized upperclassmen. But Dixon noticed.
“I saw him running through the courtyard,” Dixon remembered, “and I thought, ‘Man, that guy’s fast. He needs to play defensive back.’”
Dixon began planting the seed. “Italked and talked to him and convinced him he could do it.”
Weimer laughs. “At first, I doubted my own ability. But after practicing and working at it, I saw it.”
Going into his senior year, he is as focused and determined as ever. For obvious reasons. He may never play football again after this season.
“It’s a whole different ballgame for me now,” Weimer said. “Every day could be my last time out there so I’m putting everything into it.”
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He got his chance from the start Friday. Markeice Daugherty, Salisbury’s star receiver, was going to be a go-to guy and Hornet coach Raymond Daugherty made no secret about it.
So whose side did Daugherty line up on?
“He appeared to be on my side throughout the night,” laughed Weimer. “From watching film, we could tell that when it was crunch time, it was going to him.”
Hornet quarterback Jerry Miller reared back early and let fly toward the streaking Daugherty, who has speed and athletic ability.
But guess who was running stride for stride?
The guy with pink eye.
“My vision was blurred,” admitted Weimer, who said he picked up the eye problem from teammate S.J. Culbertson. “It was just more anticipation of when the ball would get there.”
He made the season’s first interception.
Salisbury didn’t learn its lesson. The next time Daugherty headed out on the fly pattern, Weimer again intercepted.
Weimer saw INT No. 3 coming his way when senior safety Terris Sifford (who also picked off a ball) showed some of that basketball jumping ability and knocked away a pass at the last second.
Weimer, Sifford and the coaches all joked about it.
“T did fine,” Young said of Sifford. “He needs to go over there and get that interception himself. I’m not worried about who gets it. I’m worried about the pass being defended.”
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Had the Salisbury coaches been told during the game that Weimer was suffering from pink eye, they’d have certainly thought he was pulling their leg. From their standpoint, there seemed to be nothing wrong with his vision.
“Eric looks slow but he has good speed,” said Dixon.“I tell him all the time, you don’t have to be real fast. You have to be real smart. He covered (Daugherty) like a blanket.”
For the record, Daugherty finished with three catches but averaged just a paltry six yards.
It did not surprise Young one bit that Daugherty had been held down by Weimer.
“Eric proves people wrong,” Young said. “He’s gritty and an extremely hard worker. He gets himself in the right spots and does what he has been coached to do.”
Thus, Weimer the workhorse has realized his specialty.
“Football’s different in New York,” he said. “It’s more up-tempo. Here’s it’s more smashmouth. And I like it. The best thing (about playing defensive back) is that you get to run around and hit people and have fun. That’s my attitude.”
An attitude that has him on track to become one of the South Piedmont Conference’s top secondary stoppers.
“It’s just a great feeling to know I played a key role in a victory,” he said. “It’s the best feeling in the world.
“You know, everybody’s always said I wasn’t big enough and I wasn’t fast enough. So I realized a long time ago, I just have to outsmart them.”
Like Friday night, when he made Salisbury think he had pink eye and couldn’t see.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.
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